Where'd ya find that cool weather photo?

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Copyright Mike Hollingshead, extremeinstability.com. Photo used with permission from the photographer.

I admit -- I'm a sucker for awesome weather photography. I have probably 75 or 80 photos I keep in a folder to rotate through my computer desktop -- many submitted by local readers of our web site, but others I've found online.

If you're a fan of fantastic shots too, here is a small guide to some of the best weather photography I've found online. Most of them have ways for you to buy prints if you're interested.

Some of the best of the best are taken by professional storm chasers, who are just crazy enough to actually try to get themselves in the paths of severe storms. It's a tireless job that requires incredible dedication and a willingness to drive hundreds of miles a day, get soaked to the bone and pelted with large hail, all the while hoping that tornado forms where it's supposed to, and not, say, 10 feet from your camera.

There are times these people will drive across three states (and remember the Midwestern states aren't exactly Rhode Island and Delaware), all for a storm that fizzles. But boy, the times they get in the right place at the right time, the results are simply breath-taking.

There are two storm chasers that rank among the most popular -- Warren Faidley and Jim Reed. First up is Faidley:

Copyright Warren Faidley, weatherstock.com. Photo used with permission from photographer.

Faidley has been chasing storms for more than 20 years and has published numerous books and videos on storm chasing. If you're daring, he even offers storm chasing tours. You can see some of this other work at weatherstock.com
Jim Reed -- jimreedphoto.com

And among Reed's vast library, this amazing shot where a picture might say a 1,000 words, but I'll bet 999 of them in this photo are unprintable:

Jim has spent nearly two decades documenting almost every type of meteorological phenomena -- including tornadoes, blizzards, electrical storms and floods. He has documented 17 hurricanes, including Hurricane Katrina. See more of Reed's handi-work at jimreedphoto.com

Ken has been one of our most frequent photo submitters. From his perch in Edmonds, he has a front row seat to some of the best sunsets Mother Nature can toss our way. Here is the one I have in my desktop rotation:

I'm sure there are many other local and national photographers out there. If you know of a good site, or have a site dedicated to weather photos yourself, feel free to e-mail me or put them in the comment field below.

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